“I no longer remember who I am. And when I wasted my life. While I see the eyes and the smile of an unknown face”. Starting with these verses, a Enrico Rogeri it only took an hour to write I forget, a piece on the theme of Alzheimer’s and the frailties of those who live with this pathology. The singer-songwriter plays him in the role of a man struck by the disease, giving life to what remains of his thoughts. To accompany the release of the musical piece, available on all digital platforms, even a video very touching, filmed by the artist in the streets and with the residents of Il Paese Ritrovato: a village on the outskirts of Monza where 64 people with dementia and Alzheimer’s (in a mild or moderate phase) are helped to lead an adequate life independently on their terms. The project, wanted and implemented by the La Meridiana social cooperative (thanks to donations from families, organizations and businesses in Monza and Brianza), aims to promote a model of care that focuses on the person not only with his neurological characteristics -cognitive but also with his identity and personality. I forget supports the initiative to help raise funds for the benefit of those who live in the structure.
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The patient’s point of view
The singer-songwriter was first inspired by the encounter with La Meridiana during last year’s Partita del Cuore, and then The Father, the film about the story of a man – played by Antony Hopkins – who experiences dementia in a reality deformed by his memories and his perception of the world. “After seeing the film – says the singer-songwriter, who is also President of Nazionale Cantanti, the association that helps and promotes solidarity projects – I got on the guitar and, within an hour, the lyrics and music of the song were ready”.
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With his ability to create clear images through words and to translate moods into music, Ruggeri has in fact created a single in which all families who are facing a case of Alzheimer’s can recognize their own experience. It is also well captured in the music video (produced by Libero productions directed by Marco Falorni, story by Andrea Frassoni and Marco Falorni, and executive production by Simone Berardis), in which the protagonists are not actors, but faces, the expressions, smiles and worries of those who really live with the disease every day, accompanied by fragments of past life and old photographs of important moments spent together with loved ones. In a special theater set, the residents of Il Paese Ritrovato involved in the filming of the video were able to unleash emotions and expressions. “When Enrico Ruggeri let us hear the notes of Dimentico – he explains Robert Mauri, President of La Meridiana – we enthusiastically welcomed the idea of shooting the video clip in the streets and with the people of Paese Ritrovato. For us, in fact, care and assistance are not limited to the confines of the structures, but must aim at building alliances that involve the territory, and also music, art and culture”.
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Countering the stigma of the disease
The artist has placed the value of life and the importance of valuing people who find themselves in this condition at the center of the text, contrasting the stigma of the disease which no longer considers them capable of living everyday life. “I forget“, says the cooperative, is therefore also an opportunity to support a place, such as Il Paese Ritrovato, where these people can rediscover a dimension of sociality and be the real protagonists of their days. Through www.cooplameridiana.it/dimentico in fact, it is possible to support the structure by subscribing to a donation.